


Waking Up

by Thelast_euph_bender



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Book 3: Fire (Avatar), F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, OTP Feels, One Shot, Relationship Advice, Romance, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28865337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thelast_euph_bender/pseuds/Thelast_euph_bender
Summary: re-write of Katara and Aang's reunion after he wakes up from his coma on the fire nation ship at the beginning of Book 3. Katara's POV.Katara has had 3 weeks to relive the memory of Aang dying in her arms after Azulas lightening. She hopes the spirit oasis water was enough to heal him, but he hasn't woken up yet. She needs him to wake up so she can tell him all the things she was never able to say before...I did not create, nor do I own any of these characters. Obviously. :)
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	Waking Up

I stood outside Aang's cabin in the ship hold. Hesitant to knock on the door, I was wondering what to even say. After his three week long sleep, I am anxious for a healing session. Even more anxious to hear his voice. 

It had been so hard while Aang was asleep to hold everything together. I felt like I was a child again, and all the hurt and helplessness from watching my father leave the south pole came flooding back. Now that Aang was finally waking, I was at a loss for the right words to say. Even more lost than I had been before talking to Toph. Our previous conversation had cemented itself in my brain and I couldn't shake Toph's words...

*Earlier that day* 

I had been looking out at the vast expanse of ocean from the deck of the ship, thinking about a particular cave, a boy younger than myself, and a soft kiss that made my heart start to race and sent knots through my stomach.  
I was pulled out of my memory but the sound of soft bare feet approaching beside me.  
"So what's got you so down princess fussy britches?" Toph asked, as she plopped down on the metal deck floor next to me, not bothering to face the water.  
"It's nothing Toph" I lied, "I'm just tired."  
Toph snorted as she laughed.  
"You should know better Katara, this is a metal ship, sweetness. I can FEEL you lying."  
I groaned and let my head fall forward and hit the railing with a metallic thud. Curse Toph and her ability to CREATE a form of bending. A pang of foreign and new jealousy gripped my stomach. If only I had some form of special bending, I might have done a better job of saving Aang.  
"Okay fine,"  
I answered unwillingly, "I was worrying about Aang."  
I was hoping she wouldn't catch my half-lie. I HAD been worrying about Aang, but that was long before I thought about kissing him.  
"I don't know why you're so worried Katara,"  
she said in her usual frustrated Toph tone,  
"Aang will be okay. I've told you his heart is strong, his lungs are breathing great, he's even dreaming. He will wake up when he is ready."  
I glared out onto the water equally frustrated.  
"But you don't understand Toph, Aang is MY responsibility! Sokka and I found him, I told him we were his family now! I should have done more, I should have-"  
Before I could finish my hysterical rambling Toph stood up and grabbed both of my shoulders.  
"Jeez Katara BREATHE and get a grip. I've told you Aang is fine. Even the swamp healers said Aang was fine just in a 'deep meditative state' whatever that means"  
she added with an eyeroll.  
"You're the only person on this ship who refuses to eat, you don't ever sleep, and all this worrying about Aang is making you delerious. You won't even get off the ship at port, because you're afraid he'll wake up without you there. We all care about Aang but I think it's time-"  
I cut Toph off with a shove, harder than I intended, and moved away from her.  
"Yes you all care about Aang, but none of you, NONE of you understand. None of you love him the way that I do!"  
I shouted at her. 

The reality of what I had just said sank in for both of us. I gasped and covered my mouth, wishing that I could somehow sound bend my words right out of the air and back into my lungs.  
But it was too late for that.  
A wide grin had spread across Tophs face. Her sightless eyes seemed to bore through me, and now she could see the one thing I had been hiding for so long.  
Toph threw her head back and laughed her loud obnoxious childlike laugh. She braced herself on her knees and laughed until she shook and cried.  
Tears spilled over my eyes too, but not from laughter. They were tears of frustration and embarrassment. Tears of anger and fear.  
"Stop laughing at me Toph, I didn't mean it like that!"  
I snapped but she didn't buy it.  
"Oh I know for a FACT you meant it like that!"  
She laughed.  
I spun in the opposite direction, ready to dash for the lower deck where I could be alone but Tophs small yet powerful grip caught my hand and held me.  
"Katara, please, I'm not laughing at you!"  
She paused to take a breath and added,  
"I'm laughing because everyone thinks I'M blind. But clearly you're the blind one here"  
I turned back to face Toph. Her voice took a sincere and soft timbre that I wasn't used to hearing from her. Her small hand around mine went from constraint to comfort. 

"Katara, I think it's pretty obvious what's bothering you. You're in love with Aang, and you're scared he's not going to wake up and you won't be able to tell him."  
Unable to even think or breathe, I stared down at her. Hearing someone else state my feelings so clearly in a way I hadn't been able to before made me feel dizzy and sick to my stomach. 

"Toph... You can't... You can't tell anyone. Please. PLEASE. Promise me you won't say a word!" I begged.  
"I've thought I loved Aang for a long time. Even before we kissed outside Omashu. But, it wasn't until Azula shot him and I saw him fall from the sky that I realized how much he really meant to me. And now.... Now I don't know if I'll ever be able to tell him."  
I dropped my gaze to the floor of the deck. Ashamed.  
"Whoa, you kissed twinkle toes?" She laughed and I glared at her, immediately annoyed at the fact she couldn't see how annoyed I was.  
"It's not funny Toph!" I chided and pulled my hand from hers.  
"Okay, okay sorry! Katara seriously I'm sorry!"  
Toph said. I looked at her again but she was deep in thought, so I turned my attention back to the water. After a moment of silence she spoke.  
"Do you really have any doubt that Aang loves you too? And not the way he loves me or Sokka. His heart doesn't double in speed whenever he looks at me or Sokka" she teased.  
"He doesn't wake up early to surprise Sokka with HIS favorite berries in the mornings. He had never made ME a necklace. He never offers to carry any one else's stuff....." She trailed off and sighed. "Honestly Katara. Everyone knows Aang is in love with you. Sokka and I even have a bet on how long it will take for you both to just spill your guts already."  
"Sokka KNOWS?!" I yelled as my voice ripped through an octave.  
This sent Toph into a whole new round of laughter and this time I laughed with her.  
"Yes he does. I think he said something like 'well I guess Katara can do worse than the Avatar" toph said mimicking the tenor of Sokkas voice.  
"When Aang wakes up, the only person he's going to really want to see is you. The boy is crazy for you, and now that you've saved his life, you guys might just wanna get married. Just know, I'm NOT wearing a dress."  
Toph smiled up at me and I pulled her for a hug. Surprisingly she hugged me back, but not without throwing a small punch to my arm as we ended our embrace.  
"Thank you Toph, I want you to know-"  
"ahg!" She protested and stepped back while covering her ears, "I don't wanna hear any more about your FEELINGS princess. Save it for when twinkle toes wakes up." She laughed. 

I remember taking one last look out at the water as the sun began to set. I started walking towards the ships kitchen, finally feeling like I might be able to eat something, when Toph called behind me.  
"Oh and Katara? You might wanna run to see Aang now. I can feel him tossing and turning. I think he's about to wake up." 

If I answered Toph or looked behind me to acknowledge her statement, I don't remember.i can only recall the sound of my feet hitting the metal deck as I flew down the stairs towards Aang. 

*Present*

I stood in the hallway lost in my thoughts, practically frozen mid stride with my hand reaching out for the handle to the door that seperated me from him. A sound from behind the metal door pulled me from my thoughts. Still frozen I strained to hear through the solid partition.  
A soft groan, blankets rustling and falling to the floor, two bare feet dropping onto metal, a gasp of pain, and a thud. Before I could even process that the last sound I heard was Aang hitting the floor, I had already burst through the door and dropped to the floor beside him.  
At the sound of my entrance his face turned upwards to see me and I felt the full force of his eyes, open, for the first time in weeks. 

I have always found the color of Aangs eyes breathtaking; they are clear and pure as an endless sky, but they are colored like the grey of powerful storm clouds. In this moment though I was not lost in the beauty of his eyes, but rather the panick and confusion in them. For a moment, I remembered that Aang wasn't the young kid I saw when I first looked at him all those months ago. In this instant his eyes were filled with a hundred years worth of pain and hurt. I could see the panic as he clutched his staff in one hand, and his other clutched the several broken ribs that were still healing.  
As I sank to my knees the words coming out of my mouth sounded foreign and smashed together as I struggled to get them all out. 

"Aang, it's okay, it's okay! It's me, I'm here, everyone's here. You're okay, or at least you will be okay I promise.." I let my strained voice trail off because I could not longer follow a single thought. I looked into his eyes and as the panick turned to recognition, I felt my own eyes spilling tears down my cheeks.  
"Katara" he breathed. He looked at me and smiled his crooked half smile, which came off as somewhat of a grimace through the pain. Against my better judgement I threw my arms around his neck and felt myself melt against his chest. I heard his staff clatter into the cold metal floor and his arms wrapped around me.  
After a moment, I heard him clear his throat.  
"Katara, as much as I don't want to ruin this moment, where are we?"  
I laughed at myself as I picked myself up off the floor and helped him back onto the bed.  
"We are on a fire nation ship that we stole. We've been 'hiding in plain sight' as Sokka likes to put it."  
I used the moment to try and discreetly assess his wounds. Aang was strong, but Azulas lightening had ripped through his body leaving scars that reminded Katara of Zuko and a conversation in the catacombs that she would rather forget. No amount of her healing had helped diminish the scars, and they were apparently permanent.  
Even though Aang had been frozen at 12, he no longer physically looked like the boy from the iceberg either. He was at least 2 inches taller than he had been, and the evidence of his training came from how his muscles drew stark lines around his arms, shoulders, and chest.  
It was almost as if he had begun aging more rapidly outside of the ice. Like his body was trying to desperately catch up for the 100 years he missed. He more closely resembled Katara or Sokka than he did Toph, even though they were the same age.  
"That's genius, so I'm imagining it was Sokkas crazy plan." Aang laughed and groaned at the same time. I gently rested one has on his torso and felt the broken bones inside strain against the bandages.  
"We need to do a healing session right away. Everything works better when I can actually communicate with you." I explained, as I grabbed a small basin filled with water.  
I stood behind Aang and began healing his tense muscles and broken bones , as I had been for weeks. But now I could pay close attention to exactly where things hurt. Without him to tell me, it was hard to pinpoint exactly where the breaks were. Without him it was hard to do a lot of things. 

Hoping to delay his inevitable questions and the conversation I knew this would hurtle us towards I tried to keep it small.  
"Make sure you tell me where you feel any pain or concentration of energy." I told him.  
"And by the way, I really like your hair." I blushed as I said this, and I was greatful he was facing away from me so he could not see my face.  
"Wait, WHAT?!" Aang said, as his hand flew to his head and felt the short black hair that had grown out while he was unconscious.  
"Katara, how long was I asleep?" He asked. He turned around to face me, and I could tell from his expression he was preparing for the worst.  
"Just a few weeks, Aang." I said.  
I sighed and spoke through the feeling of rocks settling in my stomach.  
"We were in Ba Sing Se and Azula shot you with lightening. You fell so far.... You broke a few ribs and hit your head very hard. I've been trying to heal you, but I didn't know where to concentrate your healing at. So right now we need to just focus on healing you, okay?"  
I said this quickly and sternly. I didn't want to have this conversation now. I didn't want to have to explain that I failed and I couldn't save him. That I almost lost him for the whole world.  
Without speaking he nodded, but I could tell from the set of his jaw that he wasn't done with our conversation.  
I worked on his back towards the scar where Azula shot him. I noticed when he winced and I applied a bit more pressure to confirm my suspicion. 

"Wow" he breathed out in a huff, "yeah you're definitely in the right spot."  
I began pulling at the energy spiraling between his shoulder blades.  
"Maybe if I just pull this energy away," I mused out loud, "I wonder what would happen if I-" and my words were cut off by a snapping sound, almost like a whip or a crack of thunder shook the room. I saw the first faint glow of Aangs tattoos as water splashed to the floor with my broken concentration. He sat up straight and then went limp, falling forwards. I reached out to catch him, but it just sent us both toppling onto the bed as his arrows faded and his breath came out in a gasp.  
"Katara, I, I went down." He said panicked, "but it was worse than that, I was gone... And you," he grabbed my face with both hands and breathed into my face. "You saved me Katara."  
The sound of him saying my name like he was, did things to me that I had never felt before. All of a sudden I was warm and the skin beneath his hands was on fire.  
"I just used the water from the spirit oasis, it was my fault you got shot in the first place Aang, I couldn't protect you..." I choked back new tears that burned my eyes.  
"No," he said "I was gone, I should have been gone, but you brought me back."  
His grip on my face tightened just so slightly as a strange new look took over his face. It was a mix of fear, confidence, and something else that confused me for a moment until I placed it. Aang looked determined.  
Before I could say another word, he pulled my face close to his and pressed his lips to mine.  
My eyes fluttered closed as I felt the knots in my stomach tighten then explode. My veins felt icy hot and I saw beautiful fireworks dance behind my eyelids.

My first kiss with Aang had been as soft as a dragonbee landing on the back of your hand. It was exactly a whisper in the dark, that promised safety and light. I had day dreamt many times since then on what it would feel like to kiss Aang again, but I never imagined it would be like this.  
This kiss was not a soft whisper. This kiss was deliberate and firm. His lips pressed against mine and held me there while his hands pulled me closer. I felt like he was trying to physically absorb me through his skin, the way he had pulled my body to his, and we touched in ways I had never felt. I had never been this close to anyone before, and without my own conscious deciding to, my hands wound around his neck and pulled him closer. My fingers found their way to his soft black hair and he softly gasped as the sensation.  
Our parted mouths seemed the dance together and I felt he knew exactly what I had wanted to tell him for weeks now, but hadn't been able to.  
"Aang," I whispered, breaking our kiss and pulling my face away so our eyes were level. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you, or heal you sooner, I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you sooner because watching you here for the past few weeks not knowing if I would ever get to talk to my best friend again..." I explained to him in a broken voice as tears fell freely down my face. I took my hand and rested it on his cheek, unable to keep speaking. He placed his hand over mine that was now resting on his cheek. He leaned into our hands and stared deep into my eyes. We sat this way for what seemed like hours but was mere seconds to the world around us. 

"Katara, I love you." Aang finally spoke, and his voice held no hint of nerves or confusion. "I have loved you since I saw your beautiful blue eyes for the first time. I have loved you through every adventure, every fight, every training session. You were the first face I saw in this new world, and I want it to be the first face I see every day for the rest of our lives. I was scared before, but I'm not now. Because I can't live another moment without you knowing the truth. If I were to go down and never get back up again, I need you to know that I love you." 

I sat and absorbed his words for a minute. His eyes never left mine during his confession and I could feel myself still crying, but as usual I was powerless to stop. He wiped away my tears before pulling me close. He held me gently close to his chest as I sobbed uncontrollably.  
"I was so afraid Aang, I was so afraid that you were gone and you would never know that I love you too." I spoke softly into his chest while hiding my face from his beautiful grey eyes. 

I felt his soft chuckle rumble his chest.  
"Oh I already knew you loved me" he said arrogantly as he tilted my face up to meet his gaze. "I'm just glad you finally figured it out too." He beamed.  
I brought my hand to twist my fingers around his. He smiled his crooked smile and placed one very soft kiss on my cheek.  
"You are the love of my life Katara." He stated. "You're my forever girl, baby."  
We both chuckled and I stretched up to place a kiss on his cheek in return.  
"And you, Mr. Avatar," I said teasingly, "are the love of my life. I'm sorry it took so long for me to figure it out."  
He laughed against my cheek, and then sat up slowly, pulling me with him.  
"Well Miss Water Bending master, can you speed up this healing just a bit? My side is killing me and I wanna go see Sokka I have something important to tell him."  
I laughed at him and pulled the water up off the floor, focusing my healing energy into the soul I loved.  
"Well sure, I'll go ahead and try to speed this up, but what could you possibly have to tell Sokka so bad right this very minute?" I inquired, letting a hint of playful annoyance color my tone.  
"Oh nothing major, just have to let him know that Toph won their little bet and he owes us both 10 copper pieces now." He said as he turned his head to face back at me and smirked.  
"You KNEW about that?!" I gaped at him, while my face reddened from embarrassment.  
He laughed and added, "of course! Who's idea do you think it was?"  
I stared at him in blatant disbelief when I felt a small burst of air gently push me forward towards his waiting arms.  
"I told you," he whispered, "I already knew you loved me. I just wanted to wait for you to see it on your own first. I already waited 100 years for you, Katara. I could have waited a few more."  
He smiled at me and I felt myself lean in to kiss him once again, greatful that we don't have to wait anymore and that I finally knew the secret everyone had else has seemingly known all along.  
I was in love with the Avatar. And he loved me too.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fanfic I've ever uploaded and it is entirely self serving because Kataang is my forever OTP. <3  
> Please be nice to me!  
> I would love your feedback!  
> Also I apologize in advance for grammar, formatting, and spelling. Again it's my first fic. I'll figure the technical stuff out eventually. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
